Leclerc qualifies on pole for Azerbaijan Grand Prix

BAKU: Charles Leclerc qualified on pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday as Max Verstappen was sixth and Lando Norris only 17th in a session that could have a big impact on the Formula 1 title race.

Ferrari’s Leclerc, who won the last race in Italy, was fastest by .321 seconds from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. in third. Pole marked a dramatic turnaround for Leclerc, who crashed in the first practice session Friday.

“It hasn’t been an easy weekend because (of) obviously the crash in FP1, which didn’t make me lose confidence. I knew that the pace was there,” Leclerc said. “But obviously you’ve got to build back up to speed.”

Leclerc is on pole in Baku for the fourth year running, but he has yet to win the race.

Norris was on what seemed to be a lap fast enough to progress from the first part of qualifying as one of the top 15. But he told broadcaster Sky that “I had to lift” — slow down — because of a yellow flag that was apparently for Esteban Ocon’s slow-moving Alpine. Norris’ time from his first lap missed the 15th-place cutoff by .137 of a second.

“There’s a long race ahead, we have some good tires in the bank, I’m still hopeful we can get a good result. I think the car is quick. Bit frustrating, but nothing I can do,” Norris said.

Norris is second in the standings, 62 points behind Verstappen with eight rounds of the championship remaining.

McLaren had confirmed before the race weekend that it would favor Norris over Piastri to help his title challenge, with Norris suggesting the Australian would be asked to make way for him on track in some situations.

That almost certainly won’t happen Sunday with 15 places separating the two team-mates in qualifying. Piastri is aiming to fight for a second career win.

“We’ll see what we can do. I think our race pace is good, but the Ferrari is certainly not slow,” he said.

Defending champion Verstappen, who hasn’t won any of the last six races, had seemed better in Baku but was sixth and said he’d clipped a curb at “the worst time it could have happened.” Team-mate Sergio Perez was fourth, beating Verstappen in qualifying for the first time all year.

Verstappen said the Red Bull has improved from the Italian Grand Prix, when he finished sixth, but questioned whether the team’s attempts to refine the set-up ahead of qualifying had made things worse.

“On a street circuit you need to be comfortable and confident to be able to attack corners and it is harder to do this when the car is a bit more unpredictable,” he said.